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Kimberly-Clark (KMB) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Kimberly-Clark (KMB - Free Report) closed at $121.79, marking a +0.12% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.22%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.13%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.22%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of consumer products such as Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissue had lost 5.1% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector lost 9.21%, while the S&P 500 lost 10.02%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Kimberly-Clark as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be July 26, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.28, down 12.93% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.91 billion, up 3.95% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.82 per share and revenue of $20.15 billion, which would represent changes of -5.83% and +3.66%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Kimberly-Clark. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Kimberly-Clark is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Investors should also note Kimberly-Clark's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 20.93. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.11, which means Kimberly-Clark is trading at a premium to the group.

Meanwhile, KMB's PEG ratio is currently 4.19. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. KMB's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.69 as of yesterday's close.

The Consumer Products - Staples industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, putting it in the bottom 27% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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